As a half decent parent, you always want what’s best for your children. In my case, I want them to have the opportunities I didn’t. I didn’t go to university for reasons ranging from “there’s no money for that” to my own anxiety and what would no doubt now be termed PTSS or PTSD. Having experienced long-term bullying at school, when it came to taking my own children to the school gates every morning, I experienced anxiety attack after anxiety attack and became quite ill as a result. Of course, these attacks were hidden behind a very nice façade of acting ability I grew up with, so no-one would have known. With the aid of my husband I now see schools and the people working in them in a different light. They are no better than me. Some of them may think they are, but they really aren’t. They are merely people who have read different books to me.
These days, schools in the UK require more time from the parents than they ever did when I was a child.
When I was young we had parents evening but that was about it. Now we have meetings about GCSEs and meetings about A Levels. Then there are endless meetings about universities. I cope a lot better now wandering into an institution I developed a healthy distrust for years ago. I can’t deal with any confrontations that arise from someone not conforming to one of their downright ridiculous rules, I have to leave that to my…